A Broken Promise
by Millie55
Summary: After the death of parents, Alex is enslaved and is forced to endure the dark world of human trafficking. Alex faces a glimmer of hope that could lead to her freedom. Rated T for content. Featuring Katia from Behind Enemy Lines. Based on the prompt - Heirloom: Write about an object that has been passed down.


Fear. It was all a little girl could feel when she was stripped from her childhood home with the wrath of gunfire and flame. Alexandra Udinov was her name, but that identity was a secret one. Her parents were dead, and if she did not want to join them people had to believe that Alexandra Udinov had died in the same fire as her family. Now, she was Sasha.

Where she had ended up after the fire was a mess in her mind. She had ridden in many cars, and her memory was not at its best. They kept giving her these pills, pills she knew better than to refuse. They would only bring pain, and they would help remove her from the nightmare she was living.

Alex was surrounded by darkness now, seeing no further than her own hand in front of her face. Hot tears traveled down swollen cheeks, but she did not sob. She did not want to alarm Vladimir that she was awake. Instead, she rested her mouth against her arm and let her hand slip into her pocket where the cool silver of her father's watch rested. While it was only a mere object, having it close to her was calming. She missed her papa, and her mama- but they were dead. While she wanted to be with them again, she knew her papa would have wanted her to keep fighting.

While a palm cradled the watch, the other reached up to wipe her tears away. She had to be strong. For Papa. Hearing footsteps in the distance, Alex couldn't help but let out a whimper of were descending steps, wherever she and the other girls were being concealed, they were underground.

As the footsteps grew closer, she couldn't help but notice that they were not made by the heavy boots Vladimir wore on his feet. Instead, they were careful steps, one that knew this darkness well. Moving to the edge of her cage, hands reached out to grasp the cool metal. While this did not help her see into the distance, she could make out the lean figure that approached. It was tall, but not as tall as a Russian man, and there were curves of a waist, breasts! It was another woman! Did one of the girls escape? Hope fluttered up into her chest, was she free?

Bright lights took to her eyes, causing her form to stumble back and intense blue eyes sought refuge behind the darkness of their lids. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the illumination, but soon Alexandra could see clearly. A blonde was woman crouched down in front of her confinement, the expression on strong features was horrified with what she had found. Crawling forward, Alexandra reached out for the woman, begging for her release.

"Please, you must help me," Alex begged, her hand finding that of the other woman's out of desperation.

"I will, I promise," the other countered, her Russian accent as strong as her own, "there is one thing I must do first but I promise I will be back for you and the other girls. I will not let them do to you as they have other girls."

Alex's heart girls they traveled with, they were not the first to be trafficked and she could not help but to fear what was to come. Death, famine, slavery, the possibilities were endless but all inhumane.

Young Alex couldn't help but wonder how the woman knew she was there - Had someone sent her to rescue them? Or maybe she was one of them and Vladimir was using her to give the girls a false sense of hope. Alex, however, did not want to believe the latter. She wanted to be free. Her hands retreated back to her pocket, digging out the watch and thrust it towards the woman.

"Take it," Alex ordered, "it is my fathers, very expensive. Take it and let me out. Please." She was crying again now as she pleaded.

A delicate touch slowly took the watch, looking over the fine silver in the ray of her flashlight. The girl was right, it was very expensive, but it held no value to her. Her only mission was to kill the men who were trafficking the girls, and set them all free.

"What is your name?" the blonde asked slowly.

"-Sasha."

"Sasha, I am Katia and I will get you out of here. I promise-" Her words were cut short when the heavy thunk of boots scraped against the floor above them. Vladimir. Stuffing the watch into her swear pocket and extinguishing the flashlight the woman drew her gun. It was time to end this. Before she could act, however, a pair of rough hands dragged her from her place, pulling her into the concealment and hiding her from Vladimir as well as another man, his business partner, Katia's father.

Angry, Katia wanted to scream and let bullet take their course, but the hold on her was strong, one arm around her waist holding her snug to the form behind her, and another over her mouth to keep her quiet. The hold was familiar, one she had felt many times before in acts of intimacy as well as restraint. Dedrick, her handler back at Gogol.

It was from beneath the stairs that Katia was forced to watch as Vladimir took hold of young Sasha, and dragged her off up the stairs and to what Katia assumed to be an awaiting transport van. One by one the other girls followed the same fate leaving Katia alone in the basement with nothing but Dedrick, an old watch, and broken promises.


End file.
